Keep the Lights On
Keep the Lights On Image
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

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  • Starring: Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth
  • Summary: Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik and closeted lawyer Paul meet through a casual encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together, they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity while being true to himself. Director Ira Sachs’s fearlessly personal screenplay is anchored by Lindhardt, who embodies Erik’s isolation and vulnerability with a gentle presence. Harrowing and romantic, visceral and layered, Keep the Lights On is a film that looks at love and all of its manifestations, taking it to dark depths and bringing it back to a place of grace. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    Sep 6, 2012
    100
    Lindhardt, sweet and childish and achingly vulnerable, gives a stunning performance.
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Sep 4, 2012
    100
    This is a drama about finding one's self-worth; you simply have to see it.
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    Sep 21, 2012
    50
    Never lets viewers fully inside Erik and Paul's world, a reticence that isn't helped by the actors' fey, restrained-to-a-fault performances. That and a frustratingly episodic structure make what might have been a raw and inspiring portrait of commitment and boundaries a surprisingly uninvolving, arms-length enterprise. Keep the Lights On lets go just when it should be holding you tighter.

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